Birding St. Petersburg

Leaving Key West, we returned to the beautiful RV resort in Naples and stayed for a couple of days. Then on to St. Petersburg, where we got a site near a small bay. The bay was full of scattered mangrove covered islands, but we’ve kayaked around plenty of mangroves, so we never put the kayak in here. The campground was nice, with big shade trees and lots of interesting birds.

Two sites down from ours hosted a Dutch Star just like ours for a while… which proved a nice backdrop for this Egret.

The campground is adjacent to a running/biking trail, and we biked a ways to a nice park. Tons of birds, lots of turtles, and several baby Muscovy Ducks.

A short drive took us to Madeira Beach, again teeming with shorebirds. Most common are the Laughing Gulls.

A rather more rare bird is this American Oystercatcher, with his almost comically orange bill.

Plenty of little Sanderlings playing in the surf.

A Magnificent Frigate Bird soars overhead.

Strange Sculpture rising from the sand.

Pelicans in formation:

A few Willets:

Least Tern:

The Snowy Egrets were fun to watch, playing in the surf with feet that looked like they stepped in yellow paint.

Osprey:

Great Blue Heron trying to sneak by…

Possibly an immature Little Blue Heron?

Airborne Ibis:

We drove to another park, and saw more land birds…

Like a Blue Jay…

Common Gallinule and an Anhinga. The Anhingas don’t have oil on their feathers, like ducks and most other birds that go fishing. They dive and swim underwater, then spread their wings out to dry.

A Great Blue Heron slouching…

A bright Dragonfly in case you’re up to your ears in birds already…

Another magnificent Osprey:

This punk haired guy is a (poorly named) Red Bellied Woodpecker. Sometimes if you’re lucky you can see a small bit of red on his belly, but it’s far easier to see the red mohawk hairstyle.